


some nights i say "fork it all" and stare at the calendar

by serpentinebulbs



Series: The Brooklyn Place [1]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV), The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Found Family, M/M, Romance, a fluffy gooey self-indulgent mess tbh, chidi and simone are BFFs, if tahani seems like she has a crush on eleanor its bcos she does
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:28:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26327890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serpentinebulbs/pseuds/serpentinebulbs
Summary: AU. As the philosophy study in Australia comes to an end, and the squad prepare to go their separate ways, an impulsive suggestion from Tahani leads to them embarking on a group holiday to Brooklyn, USA, where they discover things they never thought possible. Spoilers for The Good Place, s2 finale onwards. Title from 'Some Nights' by FUN.
Relationships: Chidi Anagonye/Eleanor Shellstrop, Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, Kevin Cozner/Ray Holt, Simone Garnett/Rosa Diaz
Series: The Brooklyn Place [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913089
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	some nights i say "fork it all" and stare at the calendar

“You know, Eleanor, I have to say, this is probably the first time I’ve ever walked down a high street completely alone!”

Eleanor squinted up at Tahani, pushing her sunglasses up onto her head. The glare of the midday Sydney sun was not to be reckoned with, but she was willing to risk frying her retinas if it meant she could shoot Tahani one of her most disbelieving looks.

“…You do realise I am right here?”

“What? Oh, no!” Tahani laughed. “No, of course I know you’re there! You’re not that tiny!” She grinned mischievously, and booped her on the nose. Eleanor quickly lowered her sunglasses. “No, it’s just that in the past I always had staff with me.”

“Staff?”

“Oh, you know. Security, bodyguards, and so on.”

“Security?”

“To create a barrier from the paparazzi. And fans. It gets invasive after a while.”

Eleanor looked around. It was seriously busy, but while she had noticed quite a few people staring at Tahani with curious expressions - they had yet to be approached. “It looks like they’re keeping their distance today.”

“Yes, well…” Tahani leaned in close. “Don’t tell anyone, but I _might_ have enticed a few of the major news corporations into making sure I’m left well alone.”

Eleanor gasped. “You didn’t!”

“Oh, don’t!” Tahani groaned, looking like she very much like she wanted to bury her face in her hands. “It was such a selfish, indulgent thing to do! I keep thinking about the charities and fundraisers that it could have gone to- Oh!” She cut herself with a squeak of surprise, because Eleanor was suddenly throwing her arms around her, and _squeezing._

“Don’t _say_ that!” Eleanor lifted her head from where it had been pillowed against her chest. “You have just as much right to privacy as _anyone_ else!”

“But-“

“No! No buts! If that’s what it takes for the paps to stop harassing you, then of course you should do it!” She closed her eyes, and lowered her head again. Tahani was able to feel her face, which always got flushed when she was angry, warm against her skin. “You’re amazing.”

“Oh, Eleanor.” Tahani hugged her back, a lump forming in her throat. Thirty-five years of life, and she’d _never_ had anyone get so ardently aggrieved on her behalf. She rested her cheek on the top of Eleanor’s head, breathing in the coconut smell of her hair, and felt like she could have stayed there forever.

And so, when she did pull back, it was _very_ reluctantly. She was rather surprised to see there was a tearful expression on Eleanor's face, too. A jolt of anxiety rushed through her, and she reached out, determined to impart some comfort, but Eleanor was speaking before she even managed to utter a word.

“I got mascara on your dress.”

Tahani looked down. It was true. There were a few smudged black marks there. She touched one, and some of the colour came up on her fingertip. “It’s fine, Eleanor. It’s just cotton.”

“But it’s white!”

“So?” She showed Eleanor her finger. “Look, I’m sure it’ll wash out.”

“You’re probably right.” Eleanor bit her lip. “Drop it round my place tomorrow, and I’ll clean it for you.” 

“ _No.”_ Tahani shook her head forcefully. “Not a chance. I _can_ find my way around a washing machine you know. In fact, I seem to remember you being the very one who told me I _could_ do everything by myself!”

Eleanor still didn’t look too convinced, but she shrugged, and gave a watery smile. ”Not everything.”

Tahani tilted her head, her forehead puckering ever so slightly in confusion.

“I helped you pick out the cactus!”

“Ohhhh.” Tahani suppressed a laugh. Even while they’d been in the shop, she’d known Eleanor wouldn’t be letting that one go for a long time.

Well. All the more reason to tease her about it.

“You really can be quite the little pedant, you know.”

Eleanor’s eyes narrowed. “ _Hey_ , less of the little, Lurch!”

There was no hiding her laughter this time. “What? It’s accurate.”

“It is not! A pedant is the big dangly bit on a necklace! That doesn’t make any sense!” Eleanor argued, her arms windmilling in frustration. Tahani snorted.

“A _pedant_ is somebody who’s excessively concerned with pointing out minor details - that is, _you._ You’re thinking of a _pendant._ ”

“I’m just saying that I showed you which cactus to get for Simone! That is _not_ a minor detail!” 

“Hardly major--”

“Tahani. You were going to get her a _jumping cholla._ They grow to four metres tall!”

“And so it’d look perfectly unique in her back garden!”

“She’s moving to an _apartment_ in _Brooklyn.”_

“Oh.” Tahani pretended to look embarrassed. “I suppose you’re right.”

“ _Exactly_. You should know by now that I always am.” Eleanor teased, looping her arm through Tahani’s as they finally started back down the street.

Tahani smiled to herself. “How do you know so much about cacti anyway? I never took you for a budding florist. Pardon the accidental pun.”

Eleanor snorted. Fourteen months of being friends with Tahani had taught her that her terrible puns were _never_ accidental. “You need to get some better jokes, hot stuff. Cacti aren’t flowers.”

Tahani gave her a look.

“Well, there are _a lot_ of cactuses native to Arizona, so can you blame me? And, I think they’re cute.”

“They’re hardly cute!” Tahani exclaimed, and Eleanor knew she was thinking about how the little moon cactus had poked her finger and made her bleed as the cashier was ringing it up.

She smirked to herself. “They are when they grow flowers.”

The affronted sound that Tahani made was delightfully garbled.

* * *

Debates about mascara stains and native Arizonan cacti aside, they eventually found their way to a small smoothie bar. It was fairly busy inside, but the queue was short, and they chose their drinks quickly. 

After ordering, they found a small table by the window and settled in to wait for the smoothies to be brought over. Tahani took the cactus out of the bag and squinted at it suspiciously.

“Do you think I should water it?”

“What?” Eleanor opened her eyes and frowned. She was _so_ not ready to stop basking in the blast of the powerful air conditioning. “No, the girl in the shop will have done it this morning.”

“Are you sure?”

“ _Yes._ Look at the spikes. They’re sticking straight up. That’s a good sign.”

“Hmm.” Tahani slid the cactus back into the bag and stared at her hands. Eleanor watched her with a quizzical expression, wondering if she should ask what the other woman was thinking about, or just mind her own business.

But then Tahani straightened up and unfolded the napkins she'd helped herself to at the bar.

"What are you doing? Origami?"

"No?" Tahani tilted her head curiously, moving to fish an expensive looking fountain pen from her handbag. She started doodling on the napkin, and Eleanor watched intently as the smooth lines gave way to a simple hibiscus. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

“I dunno.” Eleanor tipped her head back against the booth and let her gaze wander over to the counter. The guy who had taken their orders was crushing ice up in a blender. The noise of it was shrill enough to cut through the conversations taking place around them. He was tall, with red hair, and had smiled broadly when Tahani added a generous tip to the bill. “I _think_ he thinks you’re writing your number down for hiiiiim…”

“What?!” Tahani's head jerked up. Then she saw that the server had turned his back to chop up a pineapple, and gave Eleanor a sharp kick under the table.

 _“Ouch!”_ Eleanor yelped, pulling her left foot up onto the bench so that she could rub her shin. “Tahani, that was _not_ nice.”

“Neither is implying that I have the hots for that _teenager_!”

“What was he supposed to think, you tipped him twice the cost of our order…. And look what you did, I’m starting to bruise!”

Tahani rolled her eyes. “You showed Chidi and I that bruise last week. And anyway, I’m trying to be good person. It’s not like I’m going to _miss_ those thirty dollars.”

“And aNyWaY, I’m tryyyyiiiing to be a gOoD perrrrsoooooon,” Eleanor droned, in an imitation that Tahani had to admit was woundingly good. “We get it, change the record. If you were really a good person, you’d remember that the bruise I showed you last week was _this_ one!” She shuffled on her bum for a second, putting her foot down and bringing up the other.

Tahani stared at the blemish on Eleanor’s knee with raised eyebrows. “That’s not a bruise. It’s been there since the day we met.”

“It has not-“

“You can’t preach about being a good person and then lie about your injuries.”

Eleanor started to argue back, probably some half-baked retort like _“you can’t call yourself a good person and go around_ inflicting _injuries,”_ but was cut off by the arrival of their drinks.

Tahani took out her reusable straw and used it to stir her thick, garishly orange smoothie a few times. She was starting to wonder if the ingredients were really as “all natural” as the menu claimed. “Anyway, there’s no point in arguing about this. Being a good person isn’t a competition-“

Eleanor’s eyes lit up as she prised the lid off her own (hideously pink) smoothie. “THAT is the best thing you’ve said all day!”

Tahani winced. “I really-“

“We should have a good person competition! Look, I’ll go first.” Eleanor pushed her cup across the table. “You wanna have a taste?”

Before Tahani could refuse (there was still a string of spit connecting the straw to her bottom lip, for goodness sakes!), a distinctive voice interrupted, and they both jumped out of their skins.

“Did you just say _good person competition_?” 

* * *

“I cannot, in any circumstance, ethically condone the two of you partaking in a good person competition to prove that you are good people.” Chidi was saying, as he slid into the booth beside Tahani. “But that’s clearly not going to stop you…” he trailed off, watching in bewilderment as Eleanor instead tried to force her smoothie onto Simone.

“Aw, lighten up Cheeds. It’s not going to hurt anyone!” Simone said, placing the straw into the corner of her mouth and taking a diligent sip. “Wow, that’s actually really good.” She turned to Eleanor. “Can I finish this? I’ll give you five good person poiiints…”

“Yep, go for it!” Eleanor said, acquiescing the cup to Simone without so much as a grumble. 

Tahani blinked. “Who said anything about points?”

Simone took the straw from her mouth. “Well, if you’re serious about this good person competition, how else are we gonna keep track of who’s in the lead?”

“Exactly. Keep up!” Eleanor said. Then she leaned over Simone, shoving the straw into her mouth and slurping a large mouthful before she could react.

Simone squawked, and retaliated by jamming her fingers into the smoothie. Eleanor made a grossed out noise, but before she could complain, Simone had flicked a handful of smoothie into her face.

“Do that again, and I’ll deduct three points from you.”

The look of absolute betrayal on Eleanor’s face set the rest of them off.

 _So immature,_ Tahani thought, as tears of laughter came to her eyes.

It was just one of the many reasons why she was going to miss Simone. She was funny, and warm, and smart, and it was going to be strange navigating the university without her. She snuck a sideways look at Chidi, and guessed that he was feeling the same way.

She leaned over. “Didn’t you order a drink?”

He looked at her in surprise. “Uh, no. Simone spotted you two and dragged me straight over.”

“Do you want one?”

“I…guess?”

“Go on, then.” She flapped her hands at him until he slid out of the booth, and then she followed after him. As they joined the queue, he folded his arms and stared up at the menu.

Stressed was his default expression, but today Tahani thought he looked a little withdrawn and morose, even if he had been laughing along with the rest of them. Hardly surprising, given that his best friend was about to jet off to America for the foreseeable future. She tried to imagine what that must feel like.

And then she was hit with the realisation that the study was ending, so of course it made sense for things to be changing, for the strange, quirky little friendship group they’d created to be slowly starting to split up, and-

 _Oh._ Maybe she did understand how that felt. Her heart sank, and she put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay to be sad, you know.”

“Oh, I know.” He shot her one of his awkward smiles. “It’s just weird knowing this is the last week we’re going to spend together for a long time.”

“Wait- _week?_ I thought Simone’s flight was tomorrow evening?”

“It is. The plan was always for me to go as well, and then fly back next Tuesday.”

“Oh.“ The queue moved forwards, and they shuffled along together. “How strange. I must have missed the memo. I suppose that means no philosophy class this week?”

Chidi laughed. “Not unless you join us in Brooklyn, I guess.”

Tahani considered this while he placed his order. “Why not?”

“Wait, _what?”_

She shrugged. “It’s been a busy year. I’m sure we could all do with a holiday, so why not go together? It’ll be like one last hurrah!”

“I-“

“Excellent! Let’s tell the others!” She grabbed his arm and dragged him back towards their table. Chidi hardly had time to take his smoothie.

“So wait, you’re suggesting _all_ of us go to Brooklyn? For a holiday? Tomorrow?” Eleanor asked. In their absence, she’d helped herself to Tahani’s mango and passionfruit smoothie. Tahani pretended not to notice. 

“I think it’s a good idea,” Simone said. 

Eleanor pulled a face. “Group holidays aren’t really my thing. No thanks.” She made to get up, but Simone pushed her right back down. 

“Seriously? You’ve been living in a motel for the last fourteen months, this entire study has practically been a group holiday for you!”

“Holidays don’t involve homework, but fine. I’m in.” She pointed an accusing finger at Tahani. “No five star hotels though. The plane ticket alone is going to eat up all of my savings-” 

“I wouldn’t dream of it-” 

“Don’t worry about hotels,” Simone interrupted. “My family will put you up.”

“Yeah, Ray and Kevin have tons of space,” Chidi agreed. 

Eleanor and Tahani stared at him. “Who are they?” 

“My uncles,” Simone said, at the same time as Chidi said “We used to stay with them every summer during college.” 

“Eee, it’ll be just like old times!” Simone squealed. She jumped up and threw her arms around Chidi’s shoulders, squeezing tightly. “I can’t wait.” 

“Yeah, except you’ll be blowing me off for Rosa’s every night.” He snorted, patting her curls indulgently. 

“Is this seriously happening then?” Eleanor asked. She looked over at Tahani, a little bewildered. 

Tahani smiled, and reached over to grab her hand. “It looks like it is.”

**Author's Note:**

> comments make me write faster and kudos are always appreciated!


End file.
